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<div class="pagetitle">Viral Models</div>

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    <h3>Mouse-adapted Strains</h3>
    Several strains of varying pathogenicity are commonly used for studying influenza in mice. The H1N1 influenza virus
    A/Puerto Rico/34 (PR8) has been adapted to grow efficiently in the airways of mice, is lethal at relatively low
    doses, and is used widely as a model of influenza infection. HKx31 (x31) is a reassortant virus that combines the
    surface HA and NA from an H3N2 virus (A/HK/x-31) with the 6 internal genes of PR8. Despite containing the same
    replication proteins as PR8, it is significantly less pathogenic in mice. In mice this virus serves as a non-lethal
    control that is similar to seasonal influenza in humans.
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    We have developed a reassortant of PR8 and A/Vietnam/1203/2004 (39), an H5N1 virus that was isolated from a fatal
    human infection in 2004. This H5N1 reassortant virus, designated rg/VN1203(6+2), was developed using the 8-plasmid
    reverse genetics system described previously (40) and contains the 6 internal genes from PR8 and the HA and NA from
    VN1203. The HA of this virus has had its polybasic cleavage site removed to restrict replication to the lung and
    airway epithelium. This virus is more pathogenic than PR8 and serves as a murine model for infection with a highly
    pathogenic strain. Together, these three viruses provide an experimental system for comparing immune responses
    during lethal and sub-lethal influenza infections.

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        <img src="content/Virus1.png" alt="Virus 1"/>
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    <h3>Swine-Origin Strains</h3>
    We have chosen five viral strains for this study, including two pandemic isolates
    (A/California/04/2009(H1N1) and A/Tennessee/1-560/2009(H1N1)), two swine strains with close sequence identity to the
    inferred parents of the pandemic strains (A/swine/North Carolina/18161/02(H1N1) and A/swine/Italy/1390-5/95(H1N1)),
    and a seasonal strain (A/Brisbane/59/2007(H1N1)). We are leveraging our methods and approaches for analysis of
    infection of mTECs to study the response of primary human airway epithelial cells to each of these viruses.

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